Veneto OKs assisted suicide bid

(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 9 - Veneto's regional health authority and ethics committee on Friday approved a request for assisted suicide by a 78-year-old woman with terminal cancer who filed her plea on the basis of the Constitutional Court's recent 'Cappato ruling' , named after right-to-die campaigner Marco Cappato, which says assisted suicide is permissible in certain circumstances.
    The ruling came after three other Italian regions, Marche, Umbria and Friuli, turned down similar requests by terminally ill patients wishing to end their lives.
    Filomena Gallo, secretary of the Luca Coscioni right-to-die association and coordinator of the woman's legal team, said "after the obstructionism registered in Marche, Umbria and Friuli Venezia Giulia,, the Veneto Region has distinguished itself by the correct application of the Constitutional Court's sentence on the Cappato case, which makes assisted suicide not liable to prosecution in determined conditions".
    The Veneto ruling was the second in the region around Venice and the fourth in Italy.
    photo: Cappato (ANSA).